The present invention relates to video/audio disc reproducing apparatus.
An object of the invention is to provide disc reproducing apparatus in which low- and high-speed belt drive systems are provided to selectively drive a pickup arm transverse to the grooves of the disc at a low speed for playback operation and at a high speed for access and return operations, and in which a search drive mechanism is also provided to drive the pickup at a medium speed in opposite directions to permit searching of a desired portion of the recorded area.
A further object of the invention is to provide a disc reproducing apparatus in which the pickup arm is mounted on a carriage which comprises first and second belt catch mechanisms to seize the low- and high-speed belts, respectively, and in which the low-speed belt catch mechanism is associated with the pickup needle to control its height with respect to the surface of the record disc when it enters and leaves the recorded area of the disc.
A further object of the invention is to provide a disc reproducing apparatus in which the pickup needle is also associated with the high-speed belt drive system by means of a loop-and-finger arrangement, the loop being operatively coupled to the first belt catch mechanism to move between upper and lower positions and the finger being operatively coupled to the pickup needle and extending through the loop to come into contact with the surface of the high-speed belt when the loop is moved to the lower position and to come into contact with an inclined section of the loop when the loop is moved to the upper position, so that the pickup needle is lowered at a speed which gradually decreases with time to come into contact with the record surface at a minimum speed when the first belt catch mechanism seizes the low-speed belt drive system and raised instantly when the second belt catch mechanism seizes the high-speed belt drive system for non-playback operations.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a disc reproducing apparatus in which the first belt catch mechanism is manually controlled such that the carraiage becomes free to move manually to the original position and at the same time the pickup needle is raised to the upper position to prevent scratches on the on the record surface by inadvertent operation by the user during power supply cutoff periods.